Site Mobile Navigation

Cavaliers Win N.B.A. Draft Lottery

Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert with his son, Nick Gilbert, after the team won the N.B.A. draft lottery on Tuesday.Credit
Jason Decrow/Associated Press

Three times previously, Pat Williams had represented the Orlando Magic at the N.B.A. draft lottery with the best probability to land the No. 1 pick. Armed with various horseshoes and rabbits feet for luck, his success rate was perfect.

On Tuesday, the Magic, which finished with the league’s worst record, were again bestowed with the best chance to select first in June’s draft. Williams brought a small plastic figurine called Peace Man — given to him by the 7-year-old daughter of Alex Martins, the team’s chief executive — to the podium.

After the first 11 teams were drawn, two teams were left: Orlando and the Cleveland Cavaliers, represented by Nick Gilbert, the 16-year-old son of the team’s owner, Dan Gilbert, wearing a red bow tie and carrying no other trinkets for fortune.

As it turned out, he would not need any. For the second time in three years, the Cavaliers won the lottery and will pick first over all.

“We’re excited for everybody in Cleveland,” Dan Gilbert said, his arm around Nick. “It’s been a rough few years here, but we know we’re rebuilding, and now we’ll be able to add another No. 1 pick to add to the great guys we’ve got. We’re going to be right back in it in a big way.”

Williams said: “When I was standing up there and there was two of us left, I thought, ‘We got it.’ But we didn’t.”

Nick Gilbert, who was born with a genetic nerve disorder called neurofibromatosis, wore a bow tie at the draft lottery in 2011, when the Cavaliers won the top pick and used it to select point guard Kyrie Irving, who has blossomed into an All-Star. Cleveland, which finished 24-58, the third-worst record in the league, had a 15.6 percent chance to land the top spot again.

“He’s a lucky guy,” Dan Gilbert said. “We ought to take him everywhere.”

With Irving, guard Dion Waiters, and forwards Tristan Thompson and Anderson Varejao, the Cavaliers a have a promising nucleus, moving the franchise forward after losing LeBron James in the summer of 2010. With Thompson and Varejao, Cleveland might pass on the sleek 6-foot-10 center Nerlens Noel out of Kentucky, who is projected to be a top pick, and might be more inclined to go with a talented wing like Ben McLemore of Kansas or Otto Porter Jr.

Orlando would seem a fitting landing spot for Noel, after they lost Dwight Howard, whom Williams landed with the first pick in the 2002 draft. Williams’s fortuitous touch also helped the Magic select Shaquille O’Neal in 1992 and Chris Webber in 1993 with the top picks.

An error has occurred. Please try again later.

You are already subscribed to this email.

He has taken four-leaf clovers, horseshoes, even a box of Lucky Charms to the stage with him in years past, and all worked wonders. But this year, his luck had run out.

“Obviously, we came here to win it, because we have a history and wanted to keep it going,” Williams said. “But everybody is very pleased with the second pick.”

Noel might still be on the board for Orlando at No. 2. He might be available for Washington at No. 3 or Charlotte at No. 4. The variability of this year’s draft class is considered high, with any number of players appearing interchangeable at this point, as the N.B.A. combines are getting under way.

With the draft devoid of any outright favorite — like Anthony Davis last year — and seemingly paling in comparison with the expectations for the class of 2014, analysts remark more about the balance and depth this year, and the opportunity to find a diamond in the rough.

“There’s not that elite player that’s going to change the face of the franchise, but I believe there is a lot of balance,” said the Minnesota Timberwolves’ president, Flip Saunders, a former ESPN analyst. “A lot of this draft is going to depend on the needs of the people and the players that are available at the time.”

The Cavaliers and their general manager, Chris Grant, have the entire field to work with. It is not such an easy task, but they were celebrating their fortune Tuesday night.

“I think for Cleveland it’s going to mean a lot,” Dan Gilbert said. “If we pick the right guy to find into the young core we have now, we could be a great team for many, many years.”